In order to establish the ‘fingerprint’ of past sea level changes, many field measurements of paleo sea level from globally distributed locations are needed. It is because this problem requires a geographically expansive database that it becomes an ideal candidate for crowdsourcing techniques. In order to crowdsource sea level data from the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period, we developed three tools: PlioWiki, RSLcalc and RSLmap. PlioWiki is a web portal, open to contributions, where investigators can share knowledge on Pliocene to Quaternary relative sea levels. RSLcalc is a standardized, ready-to-use tool for field geologists to log their own sea level field observations and, if they desire, submit new data to an open access database of relative sea level markers. RSLmap allows one to visualize and query the database built with RSLcalc on a Google Map interface. Here we describe these tools and discuss the advantages of crowdsourcing, relative to traditional approaches, for the creation of sea level databases for any time period

Hearty, P. J.

O’Leary, M. J.

Raymo, Maureen E.

Rovere, Alessio

English

Columbia University Academic Commons

at SciVerse ScienceDirectQuaternary Science Reviews 56 (2012) 164e166Contents lists availableQuaternary Science Reviewsjournal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/quascirevShort communicationCrowdsourcing in the Quaternary sea level community: insights from the PlioceneA. Rovere a,*, M.E. Raymo a, M.J. O’Leary b, P.J. Hearty ca Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, P.O. Box 1000, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USAb The Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, AustraliacDepartment of Environmental Studies, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USAa r t i c l e i n f oArticle history:Received 4 September 2012Accepted 13 September 2012Available online 24 October 2012Keywords:RSL databasesCrowdsourcingPlio-Quaternary sea levels* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 347 416 1164.E-mail address: rovere@ldeo.columbia.edu (A. Rov0277-3791/$ e see front matter  2012 Elsevier Ltd.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.09.014a b s t r a c tIn order to establish the ‘fingerprint’ of past sea level changes, many field measurements of paleo sealevel from globally distributed locations are needed. It is because this problem requires a geographicallyexpansive database that it becomes an ideal candidate for crowdsourcing techniques. In order tocrowdsource sea level data from the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period, we developed three tools: PlioWiki,RSLcalc and RSLmap. PlioWiki is a web portal, open to contributions, where investigators can shareknowledge on Pliocene to Quaternary relative sea levels. RSLcalc is a standardized, ready-to-use tool forfield geologists to log their own sea level field observations and, if they desire, submit new data to anopen access database of relative sea level markers. RSLmap allows one to visualize and query the databasebuilt with RSLcalc on a Google Map interface. Here we describe these tools and discuss the advantages ofcrowdsourcing, relative to traditional approaches, for the creation of sea level databases for any timeperiod. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.1. IntroductionJ. Howe first introduced the term “crowdsourcing”, an analogy ofoutsourcing, in his 2006 Wired magazine article, “The Rise ofCrowdsourcing”. Wiktionary defines crowdsourcing as delegatinga task to a large diffuse group, usually without substantial mone-tary compensation. In the scientific arena, this term is often linkedwith the concept of wikinomics which comes straight from ‘Wiki-pedia’ and is a system designed to crowdsource the editing ofdocuments that are then immediately presented as publicly visibleweb pages (Tapscott and Williams, 2006; Rinaldi, 2009).In Earth sciences, crowdsourcing has been used to buildcollaborative networks aimed at collecting and geo-locating fieldobservations at global scales (Heipke, 2010). An early example ofthis comes fromWisser et al. (2009), whose paper describes a web-based platform (http://wikipeatia.org/) that assembles peat landdata through crowdsourcing. Similarly, Fritz et al. (2009) describea wiki portal (www.geo-wiki.org) that allows users to submitground-verified data used to validate global land cover estimatesobtained by satellites. The USGS website “Did you Feel It?” (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/), allows users to contributetheir experience of an earthquake, providing a more completeere).All rights reserved.description of the effects and the extent of earthquake damage.These types of community-based collaborative methods have alsobeen widely used in disaster-response actions where obtainingground data in relatively short time is essential (e.g., Zook et al.,2010).While crowdsourcing in the Quaternary Sciences is not wide-spread (probably due to the more specialized way in which fielddata are collected), the compilation of large comprehensive data-bases of RSL markers is an objective shared by a number of recentprojects focusing specifically on Quaternary RSL markers. Suchgroups include PALSEA (http://eis.bris.ac.uk/wglyms/working_group.html, Siddall and Milne, 2012), MEDFLOOD (www.medflood.org, Rovere et al., 2012), IGLASS (http://www.highstand.org/iglass/) and SLIVISU (http://www.vismaster.eu/news/slivisu/,Klemann et al., 2011). These databases are necessary because pastsea level observations need to be evaluated within the context ofglacioisostatic models of crustal loading. Such models makepredictions as to where diagnostic responses of sea level to a givenice volume change are likely to be observed. As no site can perfectlyrecord global eustatic sea level, numerous field measurements ofpaleo sea level estimates from globally distributed locations arerequired to create a ‘fingerprint’ of global sea level change.The PLIOMAX project (Raymo et al., 2009) aims to reconstructthe ‘fingerprint’ of sea level change for the Mid-Pliocene WarmPeriod (MPWP), between 3.3 and 2.9 million years ago. As upliftcorrections are typically dependent on the knowledge of lateA. Rovere et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 56 (2012) 164e166 165Pleistocene sea level history, PLIOMAX addresses not only Pliocene,but also Pleistocene field observations. Here we describe three webapplications (named PlioWiki, RSLcalc and RSLmap) that can be usedto “crowdsource” information and data on MPWP and Pleistocenesea levels.2. PlioWikiPlioWiki (www.pliomax.org) is a wiki site whose aim is tosummarize both existing evidence on Pliocene sea level as well asreview the field and dating methods that are used to generate suchdata. Themain page of PlioWiki describes the goals of PLIOMAX andthe current state of knowledge on Pliocene ice sheets and climate.Additional pages are dedicated to the description of field and datingtechniques and the use of glacioisostatic models. Scientists orstudents willing to contribute to PlioWiki can request editingaccess, and after registering they can add to or modify the contentof existing pages, start a discussion on a particular topic, or adda new page. From the wiki, two tools that facilitate the logging,submission, and visualization of data on RSL markers can beaccessed: RSLcalc and RSLmap.3. RSLcalcRSLcalc (http://pliomax.org/pliowiki/index.php/RSLcalc) standsfor Relative Sea Level calculator e a web based calculator, builtusing MsExcel and converted into HTML with Spread-sheetConverter software. RSLcalc can be used for calculating rela-tive sea levels from geological field data and contains fields forentering essential observations andmetadata. The spreadsheet alsocontains equations that can calculate the position of a former sealevel corrected for post-depositional uplift or subsidence using theobservational values inserted. On the home screen, a link isprovided to download the spreadsheet on which RSLcalc is based.Fig. 1. Screenshot of RSLmap. a) Toolbar with which a user can query data and measure dfunctions; c) Pop-up window that appears when the user clicks on one of the points on thIsland, Bahamas.While the online version of RSLcalc allows for the entry of data ona single site per session, the downloadable spreadsheet containsthe same functions but allows the insertion of data for up to 100sites. When all the mandatory fields are filled a ‘Submit’ buttonbecomes available allowing the user to enter their published orunpublished field results into the database. Although a similarbutton is not inserted in the downloadable spreadsheet, authors areencouraged to consider sending their Excel data file by email. Datareceived via RSLcalc are checked for completeness before beinginserted into the opensource database that can be publicallyaccessed using RSLmap.4. RSLmapRSLmap (http://pliomax.org/pliowiki/index.php/RSLmap) isa visualization tool for RSL markers, and is based on a Google MapsAPI connecting to a Google Fusion Tables layer, inserted intoa HTML5 webpage. This tool allows the display and querying of thepublic database built with RSLcalc through an interactive map thatcontains a series of points, each representing a RSL indicator pub-lished in literature (or submitted with relevant metadata by an on-line user). When one clicks on a point on the map, a pop-upwindow appears showing information about that site, includingmarker type and elevation, age of the marker, tectonics, sea levelcorrected for tectonics by RSLcalc and bibliographic reference(s). Atthe top of the page, a user can filter the data to be displayed byselecting a time period, a location (nation, region or site name) ora specific author (Fig. 1).5. Discussions and conclusionsThe Pliocene epoch is an ideal testing ground for the potential ofsuch approaches, as the number of scientists engaged in Pliocenesea level research are relatively fewer than, for example, thoseistances between locations; b) Google maps API, with common google visualizatione map. This pop-up window displays data from Hearty (1998) on MIS 5.5 at EleutheraA. Rovere et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 56 (2012) 164e166166concerned with Holocene or late Pleistocene sea level studies.Within the framework of PLIOMAX, we offer three tools thatemploy crowdsourcing to collect, and make accessible, knowledgeand data on MPWP paleo-sea levels. PlioWiki represents a way ofproviding basic information, including links, tools, and references,to students or scientists seeking to deepen their knowledge of themethods used to study Pliocene sea level history. RSLcalc and RSLmapare more specialized tools, built for scientists looking for a stan-dardized way to build their own database or for a specific dataset ofpublished paleo relative sea levels.Using these tools to contribute data and content, scientists canmake their published data easily updatable and accessible toa broad audience. The use of tools such as RSLcalc and RSLmap willallow the sea level community to resolve two common issues facedwhen working with RSL markers. The first issue concerns stan-dardization of metadata. Papers reviewing evidence of past sealevel typically adopt the database structure chosen by the authorpool, with the result that the same data are often reported withdifferent table structures in different papers. RSLcalc and RSLmapprovide a standardized framework within which to organize andretrieve field data. Reviews or research papers published usingdatasets built using RSLcalc or downloaded from RSLmap would be‘snapshots’ linked to a dynamic, up-to-date and crowdsourceddatabase. A second advantage of RSLcalc is that authors have theability to modify the database, revisiting earlier interpretations oftheir field data, and/or adding updates as they are successivelypublished.QSR’s byline states that “all the Quaternary sciences arechanging rapidly and subject to re-evaluation as the pace ofdiscovery quickens”. This is especially true for RSL markers fielddatabases that are constantly expanding as well as getting revised,updated, re-evaluated or re-measured by scientists around theworld. Such databases provide an ideal subject for the applicationof crowdsourcing approaches as introduced here.AcknowledgmentsAuthors want to thank NSF grant OCE-1202632 and INQUA‘Medflood’ project for support as well as SpreadsheetConverter(www.spreadsheetconverter.com) for conceding a free license forresearch purposes. We acknowledge Rick Housley for assistanceworking on earlier versions of PlioWiki.ReferencesFritz, S., McCallum, I., Schill, C., Perger, C., Grillmayer, R., Achard, F., Kraxner, F.,Obersteiner, M., 2009. Geo-Wiki.Org: the use of crowdsourcing to improveglobal land cover. Remote Sensing 1, 345e354.Hearty, P.J., 1998. The geology of Eleuthera Island, Bahamas: a rosetta stone ofQuaternary stratigraphy and sea-level history. Quaternary Science Reviews 17,333e355.Heipke, C., 2010. Crowdsourcing geospatial data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetryand Remote Sensing 65, 550e557.Klemann, V., Schulte, S., Unger, A., Dransch, D., 2011. SLIVISU, an interactive visu-alisation framework for analysis of geological sea-level indicators. AmericanGeophysical Union. Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #GC43D-0973.Raymo, M., Hearty, P., De Conto, R., O’Leary, M., Dowsett, H., Robinson, M.,Mitrovica, J., 2009. PLIOMAX: Pliocene Maximum Sea Level Project, vol. 17.PAGES News.Rinaldi, A., 2009. Science wikinomics. Mass networking through the web createsnew forms of scientific collaboration. EMBO Reports 10, 439e443.Rovere, A., Furlani, S., Benjamin, J., Fontana, A., Antonioli, F., 2012. MEDFLOODproject: MEDiterranean sea-level change and projection for future FLOODing.Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary 25 (2), iiiev.Siddall, M., Milne, G.A., 2012. Understanding sea-level change is impossible withoutboth insights from paleo studies and working across disciplines. Earth andPlanetary Science Letters 315e316, 2e3.Tapscott, D., Williams, A., 2006. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration ChangesEverything. Portfolio/Penguin, New York, NY/London.Wisser, D., Glidden, S., Fieseher, C., Treat, C., Routhier, M., Frolking, S., 2009.WikiPEATia-a web based platform for assembling peatland data through crowdsourcing. In: AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, p. 06.Zook, M., Graham, M., Shelton, T., Gorman, S., 2010. Volunteered geographicinformation and crowdsourcing disaster relief: a case study of the Haitianearthquake. World Medical & Health Policy 2, 7e33.

Crowdsourcing in the Quaternary sea level community: insights from the Pliocene

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Crowdsourcing in the Quaternary sea level community: insights from the Pliocene

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